The Revival of the Magi Clan
by KizunaUzumaki
Summary: Modern AU! The Magi Clan once ruled over and protected the world from darkness, but they have fallen. Aladdin's kidnapping makes things worse. Judal changes while she is gone. What will happen when they meet again? Will Aladdin be able to free Judal from the darkness that surrounds his heart? (Most magi characters are mentioned in the story)
1. Chapter 1-The Donut Shop

Prologue:

The Magi Clan once ruled over the world. Every member of the clan claimed the title of "Magi" and helped those who could not be guided by the rukh. The Magi brought the people of different cultures and races together. Unfortunately, the reign of the clan did not last. As war spread across the world, more and more of the Magi lost their lives. Generation after generation of the sacred magicians sacrificed themselves in battle trying to calm the endless battles. As time went on, different kinds of battle developed. Politics brought on corruption, poverty led rise to hatred and misery, and differences in race, skin color, and religion sparked huge arguments. As the Magi of the world tried to help find the truths that people search for, they became targets. The very people they sought to protect turned against them. They were different from most, and many people feared them. The Magi Clan was forced to pull away from the world. They were hunted down, ridiculed, and killed because of the power they were once praised for. After a time, the Magi of the world were killed, leaving the remaining clan members few in number and significantly weaker then they once had been. Eventually, their power faded to a point that it became little more than myth and legend. As time went on and the bloodlines were diluted fewer true Magi were born. The majority of the clan remained together, although most were magicians now, no longer able to receive help from the rukh in their magic practice. Some were not even able to see the rukh anymore. Some left the clan to join the outside world, and their descendants inherited varying benefits of mixing with the magi bloodline, but not pure magic. Several generations passed with only three Magi born, and after a while it became expected that three would be born.

In recent years, a miracle happened. A forth Magi was born.

Chapter 1: The Donut Shop

"I'm so excited! I get to start school and learn all kinds of new things! I'm a big kid now just like Juju and Yunan and Sche. This is so fun."

"Aladdin calm down. You mom is sleeping, you don't want to wake her up do you?"

"That would be bad. Daddy be quiet!"

Solomon stifled a laugh as he looked at the four-year-old girl holding her index finger against her lips motioning for him to be quiet. He could see the excitement in her eyes at the idea of starting school the following Monday. He held out his hand to her,

"Why don't we go meet Ugo, Judal, and Judal's parents at the donut shop like we promised? We got up extra early so we could be the first ones there, remember?"

"Yes! Let's go let's go let's go."

Aladdin ran out the door, pulling on Solomon's hand all the way to the car. She turned on the radio to her favorite channel and sang along, bouncing in her seat a little bit. She thought about what kind of donut she wanted to eat, maybe maple or sprinkle. She wondered what Judal would want, then shook her head knowing that he would probably get the peach-filled pastry. Peaches. She frowned, thinking about the last time she and Judal had been together.

 _He was ignoring her still! It's been three days since their argument. She felt bad though; she hadn't been very nice to him. She brought him a peach to make up for calling him mean, but when she had tried to give it to him he just pushed her out of his way and called her short. He wasn't in the mood for Aladdin and her constant talking. She ran to Scheherazade's arms and cried while the older girl murmured comforting words into her ear. Judal apologized to her the next day._

The car stopped and Aladdin looked up, finding that they were already in front of the donut shop. She stopped thinking about the argument and returned her thoughts to donuts. She climbed out of the car and ran into the store. She was picked up before she could register anything else, someone tickling her stomach.

"It seems to me that I have a rather beautiful young Magi in my arms."

"Yunan! Put me down! I can't breathe!"

Aladdin gasped for air as her fellow Magi set her down on the ground and settled for holding her hand, walking her over to the glass case to look at all the donuts. He watched her eyes dart back and forth between the different donuts and pastries, trying to decide which sugary treat she wanted this time.

"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming."

"I heard that you and Judal were going to be here and I decided I would join you. I haven't spent much time with you recently. Sche and I have been training all the time these days."

"I know! Sche should have come too!"

"She is working with Phenex today. She is getting really good at life magic. Why don't you come and watch us train next time?"

Aladdin grinned. Yunan was always fun and really nice.

"I want the peach pastry. Shorty, stop staring off into space and tell the lady what you want. She doesn't have all day."

"I'll have a chocolate bar please! Juju, stop calling me shorty!"

"Shorty, stop calling me Juju. Hey old man."

"Judal, I'm not that old."

"Whatever you say, old man."

Solomon ruffled Judal's hair as he walked over to the counter and paid for everyone's food. Judal, Yunan, and Aladdin sat together at one table, Solomon, Ugo, Leraje, and Zagan at another. The adults laughed, speaking of the drama each had encountered throughout the week at work as Yunan did his best to keep Judal and Aladdin from going at each other's throats. Aladdin kept trying to talk about how exciting going to school would be, but Judal kept cutting her off, saying that school was just a place to waste time amongst a bunch of idiots. By the time they left, Judal and Aladdin were glaring daggers at each other once again. 'Maybe there is a reason there were only four Magi for so long.' Yunan sighed and followed the other two Magi out, determined to keep them from fighting any more.

* * *

Hello!

Welcome to the re-written version of this story. I really didn't like how I had it written before. Now it is more like how I originally planned to have the story go. I think it is more interesting this way.

Please bare with me as I figure out everything that is coming up.

Request and review!

Until Next Time!

-Kizuna


	2. Chapter 2-School Days

**Late-August**

Aladdin loved school. She loved learning new things everyday and talking to her classmates. The only problem was that Judal had been somewhat right at the donut shop. Some parts of school were boring; the teacher did not teach them very much information at a time. She took things very slow. Some of the kids in her class were really slow to understand the lessons. The teacher had to keep repeating things over and over. Aladdin didn't think the other kids were idiots like Judal had said, but she had to admit that they probably weren't as smart as her. It was okay though. Whenever she got bored she took out a book and started to read, the teacher didn't mind.

She made friends with a boy from Judal's class. Kouha saw her after school one day and said she had pretty hair. He was the only one at school who didn't seem to hate her hair. After a few more chance encounters and Kouha's continued pursuit they started to eat lunch together. At first she thought it was kinda weird that an older student would want to be her friend, but after the first few days she gave up her curiosity and just enjoyed spending time with him. He was strange, but she liked him. Something about him felt familiar; it was faint, but being near him felt comfortable almost like how she felt around other clan members.

Unlike Kouha, most of the kids in her class didn't like her. She couldn't figure out why. She smiled and greeted all of them nicely just like Solomon had taught her and she was kind to everyone just like Sheba was. It didn't seem to matter though. They pulled on her blue hair and called it ugly. They came up with all kinds of mean names and chants to make fun of her. They said she looked like a boy. It hurt to hear those mean things. This kind of bullying was different from Judal because she could tell that Judal really did love her, despite some of the mean things he said when he teased her. With her classmates she didn't feel anything but anger and hatred, they didn't like her at all. The rukh around them made her nervous, they weren't calm like Yunan's and Scheherazade's or protective like Judal's.

She ignored it mostly but when Kouha realized she was upset and asked what was wrong she started crying and told him. An annoyed Kouha gave her a hug, told her they were just jealous, and comforted her until the bell rang and they had to go back to their classes.

Kouha slid into his seat next to Judal and relayed what Aladdin had told him. Judal went from bored to pissed in a matter of seconds, fuming in his seat for the rest of the school day. Even the teachers stayed away from the two, the aura around them menacing.

Judal went in search of Aladdin as soon as the bell rang. He found her a few minutes later behind the main school building with three other students. The boy was saying something that upset Aladdin as the two girls each were pulling at her hair and dress. Judal's temper flared, but he waited and reigned in his rukh, wanting to hear what the three kids were saying to Aladdin.

"You look like a boy in girls cloths."

"Why don't you cut your stupid hair? It's a stupid color."

"Yeah blue is for boys! Dummy. You aren't so smart."

"I bet you are only in this school because you are rich! Did you pay the teacher to give you good grades? You act so stup-

That was enough for Judal. She was **not** stupid in any way. Only he was allowed to talk to Aladdin like that, and Aladdin never got that kind of look on her face when he teased or said mean things to her. Either these brats were seriously cruel or Aladdin knew that Judal didn't mean half of what he said; he had the feeling it was a little of both. Both thoughts pissed him off even more. Aladdin was ridiculously smart for her age, and she never flaunted her money the way she was being accused of. It was a particularly sensitive topic for the girl.

"Hey, what are you brats doing back here?"

One of the girls gasped

"It's Judal!"

"Why is he here?"

"Why aren't any of you answering my question?"

"We were just talking. Go away."

"Look you annoying kindergartener; I'm older than you, taller than you, and smarter than you. I don't know where you got the idea to have an attitude with me but if I were you I would drop it quickly. I haven't punched anyone in a while and every word that comes out of your mouth makes you look more and more like a punching bag."

The three kids scattered, afraid of what the older boy would do. Aladdin was about to say something when Judal grabbed her hand and all but dragged her to the front of the school where Paimon was waiting for them in her car. They were silent the whole way home while Paimon spoke on her phone. When she dropped them off at Aladdin's house Judal grabbed her hand, pulled her into her room, and closed the door before glaring into her eyes.

"Judal! Why are you glaring at me?"

"Why did you listen to them? Why let them touch your hair? You looked like you were about to cry but you didn't do a thing to stop them, why?"

Aladdin was silent a moment, "I don't want them to hate me any more then they already do. If I say anything to them they just get more mad so instead I just wait until they are done."

Judal looked at her for a long time before he said, "Fine. You don't want them to hate you. I don't care if they hate me. If they keep bullying you, tell me. I'll get them to stop. I'll protect you so that you don't feel like crying." He didn't mention that Kouha was extremely overprotective and already threatening her classmates with his influence. He wasn't one to be afraid of using his money. Younger students at their school admired Kouha though, and feared Judal. Kouha was friendly to everyone who didn't piss him off, and Judal's eyes scared most people. Between the two of them the bullying would stop or there would be trouble.

Aladdin looked upset. Judal sighed; this was **not** what he had meant to do. Why did everything he say make her upset? He took her up to her room and made her sit down on her bed. He pulled her hair into his hands before she could protest and started running his hands through it. She always liked it when he played with her hair. He braided it normally at first. "Juju?"

"What?"

"Could you do it like yours? I don't know how to do it like that."

"Sure Chibi." He undid his work and started re-braiding. When he finished she leaned her head against his shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes.

"Judal?"

"I'm right here. Just say what you want to say."

"Thanks for helping me."

"Anytime Chibi."

Judal got up and proceeded to walk out of her room, out of the house, and run from there to his house next door. That was bad. He had said too much. What if she figured out that he thought she was nice to be around? He paled at the idea. Meanwhile, Aladdin stared wide-eyed at the spot where Judal had been, trying to comprehend what he had said. It was possibly the nicest thing he had ever said or done for her. She smiled. If Judal said he would protect her then there was nothing to worry about.

Until next time

-Kizuna


	3. Chapter 3-Future Magi

Chapter 3:

Judal and Aladdin were walking to the training center. Aladdin wanted to go watch the older Magi practice their magic. It was one of her favorite things to do. Judal was beginning very basic training too, but he wasn't ready to practice with Yunan or Scheherazade yet because his power hadn't truly awakened yet. Aladdin went early in the morning and begged Judal to go watch the other with her. He hadn't wanted to at first, but Leraje told him it would be good for him to see the older magi at work.

"Chibi, stop staring at the rukh."

"But they are so pretty! Yours are really bright too!"

"They are the same as any other day. Stop the staring, it's annoying. Don't you like to do anything besides watch the rukh fly around?"

"I started piano lessons. I really like the instrument but I have a hard time getting my fingers on all the keys. My hands are too small. I don't sing as well as you do and that's kind of annoying sometimes. I need to practice more. Oh, and languages! The way you can speak Russian is really amazing! I want to learn another language too!"

"That's a lot of learning to do."

"I know, but I really want to do it. And I don't have any homework yet so now is a good time to learn extra things. Mom and Dad are helping me learn French now. It's really hard to learn but it sounds really pretty when they have conversations in French so I want to learn it too."

"You think you can handle all that work? It has to be hard to do that much for someone so small."  
"Judal!"

"You two sure took your time getting here. What took you so long?"

"Chibi was dawdling. Hurry up and get back to work Yunan. Scheherazade is going to be stronger then you soon if you keep messing around instead of training."

"Aladdin!"  
"Sche! I haven't seen you in forever."  
"I know, I've been training really hard. Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Judal, stop being so snarky and sit down with Aladdin or come train with us."

"Sche you know-"

"I'm not allowed to train with you guys yet. My powers are still to undeveloped."

"Then go sit down and watch. Yunan and I need to work."

"Whatever old hag."

"Come on Sche, he's just a kid. Don't let him get to you. Like you said, we need to get back to work."

"Juju let's go."

They sat together. Judal's eyes were glued to the two practicing, imagining himself practicing with them. He wanted his stupid powers to hurry up and get better so he could practice with them.

Aladdin was glancing back and forth from her sketchbook to the two practicing magic. Every few minutes she would look at Judal too. She liked how his face changed as he watched the two practice. He was definitely enjoying himself, even if he wouldn't say so. Aladdin kept working on her drawing. She added more detail, erased the slightest mistakes, and filled in color. She worked on it almost the whole time they were there.

"Chbi! Snap out of it. We have to go. Our moms are going to freak out if we are late again. I don't want to get another lecture. Come on."

"I'm coming Juju just wait a second. I need to put my things back in my bad."

They walked home together, Judal nagging all the way. Sheba and Leraje were sitting at the kitchen table in Judal's house gossiping together when the two entered. Judal went up to his room and Aladdin sat down in Leraje's lap. The women talked for a few more minutes before Sheba stood up and told Aladdin it was time to go.

"Wait just a second. I forgot something!" She ran upstairs and barged into Judal's room.

"What the heck, Chibi. Ever hear of knocking?"

"I forgot to give this to you, here." She handed him the picture she was working on earlier then ran back to Sheba. Judal looked down at the drawing in his hand. He and Aladdin were together. He had a wand raised upward, a bunch of ice spears hovering above him. Aladdin was standing next to him with a staff in her hands, fire shooting out of the end. 'Fire and ice, huh? I guess we'll see.'


	4. Chapter 4-Stranger Danger

Chapter 4: Stranger Danger

 **Early October**

Several weeks passed since the bullying incident. The bullying stopped. Between the students' fear of Judal and admiration of Kouha, the two had gotten the younger kids to stop picking on Aladdin, although some refused to speak to her instead.

Aladdin was happy and excited now. There was supposed to be a guest speaker today. The class was going to learn about stranger danger. She had spoken to Ugo and Phenex and Zagan about it once before, when they were on a long car ride and she wanted to pick up the person standing on the side of the road, but all they had said was that people could be mean and it was better to be careful around people she didn't know. The whole class was buzzing with excitement.

A beautiful lady came in and talked about stranger danger to them. She had a PowerPoint with all kinds of diagrams, pictures, and video examples of what could happen and scenarios of how strangers tried to trick kids into going with them. They learned so much! She answered everyone's questions patiently. Aladdin thought she was great. After she left, the normal teacher asked if the class wanted to do a play to have a fun way to remember stranger danger. Everyone agreed. The teacher wrote out a script and assigned lines to everyone. The students practiced for the play every day. Parents were invited to watch the performance.

Aladdin loved it. She had so much fun! She recited her lines clearly and with emotion. Her parents clapped really loud when the show was over, and when she looked over she saw that Astaroth and Belial came too. She was so happy and proud that everyone came to watch instead of working. She couldn't wait to tell Judal!

 **Mid-November**

A few more weeks passed. Aladdin had started walking home from school. It wasn't very far and Paimon couldn't always come to get her because she had work to do. Usually she walked home with Judal, but today he was sick. About half way to her destination someone called her name.

"Aladdin! It's so nice to see you again. I heard your class did a play about stranger danger. I wish I could have come to see it."

It was the stranger danger speaker. Aladdin grinned.

"Hi again miss. It's nice to see you too. The play was really fun. It was my favorite thing about this whole school year so far. The whole class took part and our families came to watch too! What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to get some ice cream. I haven't had any for a while and there is a really good ice cream shop with almost one hundred flavors to choose from. I wanted to bring my son but he has a test to study for and my daughter is on a date so I am going alone."

"Ooo, that sounds really yummy!"

"Why don't you come with me? I don't really want to go alone, and you look like you like sweets. We can eat ice cream together and talk some more about the play. I want to hear all about it."

Well, it wasn't like Aladdin was going to turn down ice cream. Besides, this woman had been brought to the school to teach. Teachers were trustworthy. And she wanted to talk about the play more. It was so fun!

She nodded her head and took the speakers outstretched hand.


	5. Chapter 5-Ice Cream and Sick Days

Chapter 5: Ice Cream and Sick Days

They rode in a taxi to a run-down part of town. Aladdin was a little nervous when they got out of the car and walked down half a block to get to the little ice cream shop. She didn't feel safe in this part of town, the rukh here were all frantic and in a frenzy. She ignored the feeling though- the speaker wouldn't let anything happen to her- especially when she walked through the door and saw all the ice cream flavors. There were two huge cases filled with large tubs of ice cream.

"I'll take the mint chip please. Get whatever you want, my treat."

"Thanks! Could I get a scoop of the chocolate brownie ice cream please? Oh! Could you put fudge on it too? That would be really yummy. Triple chocolate."

She took her cup from the man behind the counter and moved to sit down and eat next to the woman. She ate several bites of the creamy goodness, talking about the play at the same time. The woman smiled at her as she listened to Aladdin talk about the play as they ate ice cream. She sat quietly, eating her ice cream and nodding at Aladdin every few moments.

After getting about half way through the cup of ice cream Aladdin started to get really dizzy and nauseous. She took a few deep breaths, trying to clear her head. She tried to tell the woman that she wasn't feeling good, but she couldn't make words come out of her mouth. Her tongue felt dry and her throat was sore. Her vision blurred, dark spots forming at the edges of her sight as she slumped in her seat, falling against the table. Her head hit the table hard and her ice cream dropped to the floor. The last thing she heard before losing consciousness was the sound of horrible, cackling laughter ringing through the room.

The speaker laughed at the gullible little girl. What an idiot! How foolish of the clan.

"Solomon is so arrogant, thinking he can leave the little magi unprotected at school. What a fool. Banker, move the girl to the back and keep her quiet. I don't want anyone to make a connection. I used my magic to obscure her image from anyone outside. Don't screw it up, it took to much effort to get his far. I'll send someone to pick her up and move her tonight. Our revenge finally gets to start."

With that, the woman left, walking back to the main road where she called another taxi.

When Aladdin woke up there was only darkness and cold. She tried to call out but she was bound and gagged. She couldn't even see the bound hands she was holding up a few inches in front of her face. Her head was pounding in time with her heartbeat. Everything hurt. She listened and heard nothing. There were no voices, no footsteps, no sign that anything outside of the darkness and pain existed. The silence was deafening. It smelled horrible, her stomach churning and ready to empty its contents if only her mouth wasn't covered. She squinted her eyes and made out figures darker then the darkness surrounding her. Black rukh? When one landed on her it increased the pain and fear she felt. After a few moments of struggling against the fatigue, she felt unconsciousness wash over her once again.

The next time she woke up she was in a cramped little room. Her feet were chained to something and there were needles in her arm. The tubes attatched to the needles were connected to a beeping machine. Aladdin shivered. It was cold here. Her muscles were stiff, and she tried to stretch out only to find that the slightest of movements left some part of her body touching a wall. The concrete floor didn't help her pains. She wanted to jump up and down to warm herself up, but when she tried, one of the tubes injected her with something that made her even more cold and made the world spin. She fell, hitting her head against the wall before landing on the ground once again and losing consciousness, returning to the cold darkness.

As she was stuck in the dark void of a room, going in and out of consciousness, she realized something. The rukh were gone. There weren't any in this room. She couldn't see the beautiful white bird-like creatures that were always by her side. She couldn't reach out and feel any of her family. She couldn't feel the especially bright presences of the other three magi, and it terrified her. She was alone here in the darkness, surrounded only by the machine with its methodical beeping and faint light.

That was when panic really began to set in. She was scared. She wanted to go home. Aladdin wanted to play with Yunan and Scheherazade and Judal, even if Judal was mean sometimes and Sche was busy with school. She cried. Every time she woke up tears poured from her eyes. She wanted to hug her mom and get food with her dad and crawls onto Ugo's lap and play dress-up with Aunty Paimon. She wanted to listen to Sche talk about history and the legends that accompanied, she wanted to go on a walk through some hidden paradise Yunan had found in the town and listen to him talk about the places beauty, she wanted to hear Judal tease her and argue with him and get one of his rare apologetic hugs. She missed everyone, even Judal's grouchy dad, who never seemed to want to talk to anyone besides the Magi, Zagan. Aladdin spent her time awake crying and trying desperately to hold on to the memories of her family and the magi clan, to stay in her happy place. As hard as she tried, details still began to fade with every slip into the darkness and the light and beauty of her memories were consumed.

~~~Judal~~~

He woke up with a fever. Leraje called the school to let them know he would be out sick today. He couldn't stop coughing and his body was shivering horribly. He hated being sick. His mom gave him medicine and he fell asleep again. His dreams were filled with images of a strange woman and Aladdin. He woke up a few hours later, just in time to run to the bathroom and throw up in the sink. When he was finished and he washed out his mouth with water he groaned. This sucked, and he couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had, something was making him nervous. He went back to his room and looked at he clock on the wall, lunchtime at school. He wanted to be there to eat his lunch with Kouha and Aladdin. Instead, he made his way slowly and carefully down the stairs, running into his mom as she was making her way towards his room with a bowl of soup.

"Oh, you're up. Good, come eat."

"I feel like crap."

"Language."

"Sorry. I just really don't feel so good."

He ate soup and watched movies on the couch, falling asleep half way through. He dreamed of darkness, of Aladdin's braid, of those kids that had been picking on her earlier in the year, and finally of a woman who was surrounded by rukh. But they weren't normal rukh. When he held up his hand to touch one, it hurt. It was cold. He didn't like it. He called out to the woman. He wanted to know why the rukh were black. He wanted to see her face. He called out again. She turned his way, and as he was about to catch a glimpse of her face, he woke up. He gasped for air, covered in sweat. He still had that uneasy feeling. He grumbled.

"I really hate fever dreams. This is the worst. Everything always feels weird."


	6. Chapter 6-World Collapse

Chapter 6: World Collapse

Judal woke up to shouting.

"Leraje! Zagan!"

Sheba?

"Aladdin never came home. Is she here? Solomon and I can't find her anywhere!"

"She isn't here. I haven't seen her since this morning. Judal was sick today. What can I do?"

"I'm so worried. I don't know what to do. We called the police, but they haven't found a clue."

"I can try a location spell." (Zagan)

"Solomon already tried. He couldn't find her anywhere. Neither could Phenex or Vinea. She isn't near water otherwise Vinea would have seen her. Phenex said she is definitely alive though. She would be able to tell if-"

"Sheba, you have to breathe. You aren't going to be of any help to Aladdin if you are in a hospital."

"I know Leraje, but I can't help it. We never should have let her walk home alone. I should have gone to pick her up. I just assumed it would be fine for one day."

"There isn't anything we can do about it now. Sheba, if none of our location spells are working then there isn't anything we can do. Dantalion's power is only helpful is we can give her a general idea of where to look."

"I know, Zagan. I just wish there was something else I could do. Scheherazade couldn't find her either. Sche should have been able to find her if there are any rukh around her." After a moments pause, "I'm going to go home and see if Solomon or the police found anything. Goodnight."

Judal's mind was reeling. Aladdin didn't come home? He started to panic. The clan was already weakened. Aladdin being born as a fourth Magi was a blessing, it meant there was a possibility of the clan regaining its power. If it was able to do that, it might be able to uproot some of the darkness and corruption the weaklings of the world had caused over the years.

Without Aladdin though, the light he saw in the world started to fade. They needed to find Aladdin. He wanted to see her smile.

The entire clan was in a panic. Magic spells were cast in the hopes of locating the little girl. It had been three days since she had gone missing. The police had started looking for clues about her disappearance. Belial, Zagan, Dantalion, and Vinea were combining their magic, trying to find their lost princess. To the clan, Aladdin was more than just an esteemed Magi, she was like the clans personal ray of sunshine. Yunan and Scheherazade tried combining their magic with each other and with the others in vain. They had even tried to converge abilities with Judal, but no matter what they tried Aladdin was nowhere to be found. They could tell she was alive, but nothing more.

As days of Aladdin's disappearance turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, the clan took on a melancholy air.

Solomon and Sheba both threw themselves into work. Sheba hired private investigators to find out anything about Aladdin's disappearance. She spared no expense. She had them investigate everyone who had so much as looked at Aladdin within a year of her disappearance, but nothing turned up. Solomon expanded Alma Torran. The company he had started years before and carefully nurtured into success with help from Sheba and Ugo grew exponentially. He wanted his company to reach all across the world. He wanted to have eyes and ears everywhere. He wanted his daughter back. Alma Torran worked in every industry from children's toys to arms dealing. Nothing regarding Aladdin turned up.

Scheherazade smiled less. She spent every waking hour studying. She didn't spend her weekends with friends anymore, and barely spoke to family members beyond what was absolutely necessary. She poured her heart and soul into the books and subjects she used to speak to Aladdin about. The younger girl had always sounded so excited to learn, had always listened to what Scheherazade said and tried to understand as much as possible. Scheherazade stopped wearing anything but the colors white and gold. She wanted to honor the little girl who had idolized her, and she did so by only wearing the colors that the younger girls rukh had shone so brightly.

Yunan traveled around from city to city. He spent all his free time looking for someone who had bright, breath-taking rukh like Aladdin had. He searched, trying to find someone to replace the bright light they had all lost. He no longer liked to stay at home, opting to stay away for as long as possible every day.

Judal went from person to person, asking them to teach him their magic. He wanted to learn it all. To find a way to combine it all together and get Aladdin back. He wanted power so he could protect her like he had promised. For a while he studied magic books and spells from the clan members, but there came a point when they were no longer able to give him something else to learn. Judal proved to be the strongest of the remaining magi. Neither Yunan nor Scheherazade were able to process or use as much magic as Judal nor learn as quickly. It wasn't enough though, so he went and sought out more magic from outside sources.

The rest of the clan slowly began to pull themselves back together. They returned to their lives, some throwing themselves into their work a bit more than usual, some drinking more alcohol than before. Everyone tried to find a way to cope. And life moved on.

But for those closest to her, those who had watched the bright-eyed little girl grow every day for the short four years she had been here, there was a huge void. For them, it was as though part of the world had collapsed.


	7. Chapter 7-The In-Between Years

Chapter 7: The In-Between Years

December 2003

Judal finally recovered from his cold. Amon checks up on him and realizes that it was the way his body handled the awakening of his powers. He is the youngest of the current Magi to have his powers manifest fully or in such a violent way. (Yunan at 8 and Sche at 10)

January 2004

Judal goes to Yunan and Scheherazade to learn more magic. He wants to start training with them to learn more. He is determined to get stronger so he will be able to find and protect Aladdin. They agree to start teaching him.

Solomon begins expanding Alma Torran into other fields and industries. He hopes that he will be able to get more information about Aladdin that way. He wants to use the company as his eyes and ears.

Sheba isn't the same. She won't smile anymore. Doctors diagnose her with severe depression.

February 2004

Judal starts studying magic theory from books in Solomon's library. He doesn't understand everything but he keeps studying them anyway. He tries to talk to Solomon about them, but Solomon is too focused on working.

March 2004

4th-Yunan turns 14

April 2004

Aladdin changes location. She wakes up in a different room. A red light flashes every few seconds. Her arms and legs are chained to what she thinks is a bed. She can only move her limbs a few inches, there is no way she will be able to get off the bed. She still can't see the rukh. She tries to call to them for the millionth time only to be drugged back to sleep. She dreams of piercing red eyes and ice spears.

May 2004

6th-Judal turns 8, wishes for Aladdin to come home

June 2004

Judal continues magic training. He learns new concepts much faster then Scheherazade and Yunan but doesn't understand the theories as well as they do.

July 2004

17th-Aladdin turns 5

Judal makes a list of all the things he knew Aladdin loved or wanted to learn so he can learn them for her. He hopes to teach her one day (wants to find all the tricks and tips to master certain things and make things easier for her.)

August 2004

Sheba starts searching for Aladdin by hiring private investigator. Previously she was relying on the police, too depressed to do anything on her own. She starts throwing herself into the hunt for Aladdin. She can't focus on anything else.

September 2004

Scheherazade decides she can't stay in the clan anymore. She starts working towards higher academic achievement so she can get into an elite private academy. She searches for any excuse to stay busy. She throws herself into studying and training with Yunan and Judal.

October 2004

24th-Scheherazade turns 13

November 2004

Yunan starts wandering, focusing on local places. He spends more and more time away from home and more time outside, exploring different parts of the city.

December 2004

Judal starts martial arts training with Kouha to train his body in order to keep a balance with his magic. Physical activity is much more difficult for him then magic. Kouha learns faster then he does but Judal practices even more so he doesn't fall behind.

January 2005

Alma Torran has expanded to almost twice the size it was when Aladdin was taken. It now has influence in most industries around the world. No leads on Aladdin.

February 2005

Judal increases the level of body training. He goes to the clan's gym early every morning and lifts free weights or uses the weight machines. He runs every morning. Leraje is worried about him. He is always training in magic or body, or doing schoolwork/tutoring. She talks to others about it. Dantalion, Phenex, Focalor, and Astaroth all think it is just his way of coping with Aladdin's disappearance. The parents of all the Magi realize that the three don't seem to be able to handle Aladdin's disappearance. None of them can move on at all.

March 2005

4th-Yunan turns 15

April 2005

Scheherazade is accepted into the private academy she applied for.

May 2005

Amon and Zagan get into a huge fight and stop speaking to each other. No one is there to stop their fighting this time so things get out of hand.

Paimon becomes head accountant at Alma Torran.

Judal turns 9. He starts to isolate himself from family members. He won't talk to Leraje about Aladdin anymore.

June 2005

Judal goes to Vinea to learn more about water magic. He shows natural aptitude for it. He is quick to learn ice magic too.

July 2005

Aladdin turns 6

Magi Clan starts focusing on personal resources because the police are no longer making the case a priority. Too long has passed with no new leads on the case.

August 2005

Judal starts learning piano for Aladdin. He thinks about what she told him about the piano after her first few lessons.

September 2005

Scheherazade becomes fluent in Italian. She starts school at private academy. The new school keeps her extremely busy with schoolwork and club activities.

October 2005

24th-Scheherazade turns 14

November 2005

Leraje teaches all the Magi how to levitate.

December 2005

Judal and Yunan excel with learning levitation magic but Scheherazade has a hard time with it.

January 2006

Yunan wanders farther away. He can't stand staying in one place for long. He starts traveling to other towns and cities.

February 2006

Judal starts studying with Ugo about magic theories and school things. Originally he wanted to learn from Solomon but he is too busy and Solomon recommends Ugo as a teacher instead.

March 2006

4th-Yunan turns 16

Judal teaches himself guitar using YouTube videos and online aids.

April 2006

Yunan meets Sinbad for the 1st time. Sinbad's rukh almost remind him of Aladdin's, but there is some difference between the type of light the two give off.

Amon wins a major court case for Alma Torran

May 2006

Judal turns 10

June 2006

Aladdin is moved again. She can move around a few feet now. The tubes are still hooked up to her and attached to a rolling cart. They supplement nutrients she doesn't get with the one meal a day she receives, hydrate her, and keep her subdued with drugs. It's completely dark in the room but Aladdin's eyes adjust quickly. There still aren't any normal rukh, but she can see a black rukh come around every once and a while.

Solomon and Sheba are both frustrated because they can't find anything about Aladdin. They try to start moving on.

July 2006

Aladdin turns 7

August 2006

Judal reaches Scheherazade's magical strength despite age difference. When sparring it was unpredictable who would win.

September 2006

Judal asks Focalor and Paimon to teach him wind magic.

October 2006

24th-Scheherazade turns 15

November 2006

Scheherazade spends as much time as possible at school. She can't stand the clan without Aladdin. She starts thinking about going farther away for school.

December 2006

Yunan meets Sinbad again. He notices that the number of people around Sinbad has increased.

January 2007

Sheba becomes horribly ill and is raced to the hospital. The illness is attacking her lungs and is worsened by her depression. The doctors insist she stay in the hospital so she can be monitored around the clock for any change in her condition.

Judal begins his study of the harp. He starts to take lessons in Russian to improve his grammar

February 2007

Judal stops the Russian lessons because he already knows all the things the tutor wants him to learn. He takes French instead because that is what Aladdin had been learning before she was taken. He spends any free moment he has working on the French. He finally appreciates what Aladdin said about the beauty of the language.

March 2007

4th-Yunan turns 17

April 2007

Judal continues studying with Focalor and Paimon for wind magic and also starts working with Baal to learn lightning magic. The lightning magic works easily for him, almost as natural as ice.

May 2007

Judal turns 11

June 2007

Sheba undergoes surgery. During the operation something goes wrong, and they almost lose her. The doctors are able to stabilize her condition and she begins to recover.

July 2007

Aladdin turns 8

August 2007

Judal moves up to a higher level of martial arts training.

September 2007

Sheba is recovering nicely. Solomon is relieved now that she can come home from the hospital. Phenex keeps an eye on her condition.

October 2007

Scheherazade turns 16

November 2007

Judal starts using ice magic as his signature, what he is best suited for.

December 2007

Judal goes back and forth between Astaroth and Amon to learn fire magic. He learns very slowly. He can't control the flames he creates.

January 2008

Judal is still working on fire magic.

February 2008

Fire magic training continues.

Scheherazade and Yunan talk about their plans.

"I'm going to help that boy I found."

"You don't know him."

"Something about him draws others to him, if they are going to revolve around him I think I should help to create a safe place for them to go. He's older then us, but he seems like a young kid sometimes. Don't get me wrong, he isn't naïve he just has an adventurous side. It could be risky, but do you really think someone with no knowledge about magic could really get to me?"

"You're right, but still. Be careful, I can't lose another family member. Something is different about losing another Magi. It isn't the same as losing any of the other family members. Don't you feel it?"

"I do. It's weird, isn't it. The Magi seem to have an exceptionally strong bond. What are you going to do Sche? You don't seem to want to stay here either."

"Italy. I want to go abroad. I think I'll stay in the country for college, but I need to go away. I can't be here any more. And Judal, what about him. He trains so hard every day. None of us have been able to handle Aladdin's abduction."

"I wish I could hear her. I can't though, she isn't around any rukh."

"I came to the same conclusion. Wherever she is, there aren't any rukh around her otherwise our magic would work. And whoever took her had to use some kind of magic, otherwise there would have been witnesses. It doesn't help us though, we can't just hunt down all the magicians in the world. Yunan, I don't want to talk about this anymore. There isn't anything we can do at this point. We aren't strong enough. No one in the clan is. Maybe Judal will be someday, but neither of us can do it at this point and I can't stand to focus on locating Aladdin all the time if there isn't a guarantee for us to find her. I can't do that to myself. I tried and I failed, I can't go down that path again. I don't think you should either. You finally started acting close to normal again."

"I know Sche, I don't plan on doing anything. There isn't anything we can do anymore. Hopefully Judal will be able to find her one day. I just hope he won't kill himself with all this training before he achieves whatever goal he has in mind. He's shutting everyone out."

March 2008

4th-Yunan turns 18

April 2008

Judal still hasn't mastered the basics of fire magic. It's taking almost three times as long as normal. His control over the flames he produces is better but he can't control them completely.

May 2008

Judal turns 12

Judal stops the music lessons and increases the time spent on magic training. He wants to get the fire magic basics mastered as soon as possible so he can move on to the next magic type.

June 2008

Yunan graduates high-school and moves away from the clan. He spends most of his time traveling. He flies around from city to city to explore and looks for Sinbad at the same time.

July 2008

Aladdin turns 9

Scheherazade starts working on more advanced/complicated magic. It takes more magoi but is much more powerful. She works mostly with aberration magic learning how to create and control natural disasters on different scales. She works with Phenex more to improve her healing technique.

August 2008

Astaroth and Amon create a boot camp for Judal when he says he wants to train harder for the last few weeks of summer vacation. He is determines to finish learning to control fire magic. He gets up at dawn and goes to bed long after dark to train all day long with one or both of the heat experts.

September 2008

Judal finally masters basics of Fire magic. Lightning magic becomes his second-favorite type of magic to use.

October 2008

24th-Scheherazade turns 17

November 2008

Phenex offers to use her free time to teach Judal healing magic

December 2008

Judal spends all his time practicing healing magic.

Yunan sees Sinbad again after almost a year. He offers to help him and his little business make connections and grow in size. Sinbad accepts Yunan's offer; he wants to be able to protect and provide for those who stay by him.

January 2009

Judal convinces Belial to teach him to create illusions; it's not his favorite kind of magic but he wanted to know anyway. He has some ideas for making the magic useful in the future.

February 2009

Zagan helps Judal learn more life magic, mostly how to manipulate plants and animals.

March 2009

4th-Yunan turns 19

April 2009

Sheba is starting to get a little less obsessed with Aladdin's disappearance. She starts to spend more time with Solomon and the others. Begins to update Aladdin's things. Gets clothes and things just in case she comes home.

Judal starts to work on sound magic with Zepar and Space-Time magic with Dantalion.

May 2009

Judal turns 13

Judal starts to look outside of the clan for a teacher

June 2009

Kouha introduces Judal to Kouen officially. Kouen offers to teach him what he knows for information about the Magi clan history. Judal answers Kouen's questions. In return, Kouen explains more advanced magic theories and how to apply them in his use of magic based of ancient texts Kouen has studied. He gives Judal a book filled with teachings of a magician ancestor of the Ren siblings.

Scheherazade graduates

July 2009

Aladdin turns 10

August 2009

Kouen introduces Judal to Gyokuen. Judal demands she teach him more magic. She agrees so long as he helps her group do a few things in the future.

September 2009

Judal gets much stronger under Gyokuen, but he also starts to pull away from family even more. He barely speaks to Leraje and Zagan anymore.

Scheherazade starts college out of state

October 2009

24th-Scheherazade turns 18

November 2009

Solomon is suspicious about Al Thamen and the mysterious woman teaching Judal magic. He asks Ithnan to join the group and keep an eye on Judal.

December 2009

Judal starts training in magic with the Ren siblings. They are very distant relatives of the Magi clan. They can use magic with the help of ancient artifacts or spells on new items that are important to them.

January 2010

Judal helps Kouen for Gyokuen. She teaches him how to create djinn. He puts a spell on an item of Kouen's so he can channel the power locked within.

February 2010

Yunan speaks with Solomon about partnering with Sindria

March 2010

4th-Yunan turns 20

April 2010

Yunan creates a djinn for Sinbad after he discovers Sinbad's distant relation to the Magi Clan.

May 2010

Judal turns 14

June 2010

Judal starts training his body even more. He works out with Kouen and Focalor at different times, continues martial arts with Kouha, and continues his own body training.

July 2010

Aladdin turns 11

August 2010

Judal can't stand being told what to do by Gyokuen, but he still wants to learn from her.

September 2010

Scheherazade studies abroad this year. She goes to Italy to study just like she and Yunan discussed before.

October 2010

24th-Scheherazade turns 19

November 2010

Yunan returns home and watches over Judal for a while. He is a little concerned. Judal still hasn't found a way to move on from loosing Aladdin. Yunan is worried that Judal is working himself too hard.

December 2010

Scheherazade meets someone she is interested in.

January 2011

Judal has learned the basics and easy levels of all magic. He starts training specifically in ice and lightning magic because they are the ones he is drawn to the most. He tries to learn more healing magic but Gyokuen doesn't know very much about it. She seems to know most about offensive magic and binding spells.

February 2011

Solomon talks to Leraje and Zagan about Judal. They are all concerned.

March 2011

4th-Yunan turns 21

April 2011

Ithnan has become a high-level member of Al Thamen. Gyokuen uses sound magic to take control of his mind so he will not betray her.

May 2011

Judal turns 15

June 2011

Judal spends as much time as possible learning more advanced healing magic from Phenex.

July 2011

Aladdin turns 12

August 2011

Sheba tries to reach out to Judal. He just pushes her away and says he doesn't need any help.

September 2011

Yunan brings Sinbad to meet Judal. Judal just laughs and says he should spend his time training and not playing around. Yunan's plan to make Judal connect with others again failed. He had hoped that Sinbad's light would reach Judal but it didn't work.

October 2011

24th-Scheherazade turns 20

November 2011

Judal starts skipping school so he can spend more time learning magic

December 2011

Judal starts using the dark ruhk that seem to surround Gyokuen all the time. They are much more difficult to control.

January 2012

Aladdin is moved again. When she wakes up there is someone else in the room. She calls out to the person. She can't tell who it is. The person moves over to her and starts kicking. She can't stop the person's abuse. She curls up in a ball and tries to protect as much of her body as possible but everything still hurts. The figure keeps hitting her until she loses consciousness. She dreams on long, wavy-golden hair, a long white-blonde braid, a raven-black segmented braid, and the same piercing red eyes she always sees. She can't remember why those things are familiar or comforting, they just are. She used to see faces, but now she just sees bits and pieces of appearances. She can't remember the faces of those she knows she once held important everything is blurry and unclear. The only thing that is always clear and certain is the red eyes. Judal. She remembered that name for some reason.

February 2012

Solomon finally figures out why Ithnan hasn't been reporting to him but can't do anything about it. He looks for a way to free Ithnan from the mind control.

Judal tries to locate Aladdin through magic but can't still.

March 2012

4th-Yunan turns 22

April 2012

Sheba relapses

May 2012

Judal turns 16

June 2012

Judal leaves to go on a mission for Al Thamen

Sheba's life is in danger. Doctors can't figure out what to do. Phenex isn't strong enough to heal her. Scheherazade prepares to return to the clan and help Phenex with Sheba's condition.

July 2012

Aladdin turns 13

Sheba's condition gets worse.

August 2012

Judal gets back. He visits Sheba and realizes she is dying. He goes against orders from Gyokuen and uses the white rukh to heal her. (he is supposed to only use the black rukh, but he isn't good enough at controlling them to be able to use them for extremely advanced healing magic yet) He removes the blood from her lungs and saves her from the drowning.

September 2012

Sheba is better now

Judal is punished for using the white rukh to such an extent.

October 2012

24th-Scheherazade turns 21

November 2012

Judal completes the French lessons and starts learning German.

December 2012

Yunan visits Scheherazade, tells her about Judal. She is relieved to hear Judal was able to completely heal Sheba.

January 2013

Solomon starts working with Ugo to expand Alma Torran even farther

February 2013

Judal's magic becomes weaker the more he uses the black rukh. Gyokuen says it is just a side effect of the change in powers from light to dark

March 2013

4th-Yunan turns 23

Sinbad's company starts really taking off

April 2013

Judal starts working to advance Kouen's company even more.

May 2013

Judal turns 17

Scheherazade graduates from school. Chooses to stay abroad and expand her influence where she is.

June 2013

Judal and Kouha graduate a year early

Judal starts adjusting to the black rukh

July 2013

Aladdin turns 14

Judal looks through the drawings and things Aladdin gave him so long ago and reminisces. He smiles for the first time when he sees the picture of he and Aladdin using magic. She had been right about his affinity for ice magic. He wonders if she would be good as heat magic, she seemed as though she would be.

August 2013

Judal uses almost only black rukh but something feels off about them.

September 2013

Kouha and Judal start college at nearby school

Belial doesn't like the feel of the black rukh around Judal. Something about them make him uncomfortable, they don't seem natural.

October 2013

24th-Scheherazade turns 22

November 2013

Judal stops martial arts training to spend more time with magic. He continues practices with Kouha separately.

December 2013

Kouha notices a change in Judal's behavior because of the dark rukh. He seems to take pleasure in watching other people unhappy. Kouha speaks to Kouen about it. Kouen and Koumei are concerned that Judal will stop working with Kou because of his change in behavior. Kouen plans to bring Judal away from Gyokuen as much as possible.

January 2014

Judal can't escape the despair he feels when he thinks about Aladdin. The black rukh are intensifying every negative emotion he feels.

February 2014

Judal knows something is wrong and he tries to find out why he feels so strange.

Ugo and Paimon officially become a couple

March 2014

4th-Yunan turns 24

April 2014

Judal discovers that the dark rukh are inventions of Gyokuen's so she can use magic like a true Magi and control others. She changed something about the normal rukh so she would be able to control them. He tries to use them less often. He realizes they aren't as reliable as the white rukh although they can potentially be stronger.

May 2014

Judal turns 18

June 2014

Judal can't stop using the black rukh, they always cling to him. He tries to separate them from the white rukh but it isn't working.

July 2014

Aladdin turns 15

August 2014

Sheba and Solomon discuss ways to bring Judal back to normal. They don't like the black rukh.

September 2014

Judal finds a way to connect to the rukh so he can communicate with all of them. He uses this to try and search for Aladdin but it doesn't work.

October 2014

24th-Scheherazade turns 23

November 2014

Judal starts dreaming of Aladdin again for the first time since he started training with Gyokuen

December 2014

Scheherazade, Yunan, and Judal all have the same dream about Aladdin…Scheherazade and Yunan talk to each other about it and wonder if they should talk to Judal

January 2015

The two magi finally talk to Judal about the dreams about Aladdin using clairvoyance magic. They all have the same dream with varying levels of detail and information. None of them know what the dreams mean. They hope it means they will find Aladdin again soon.

February 2015

Judal starts searching for Aladdin with renewed vigor

Leraje notices the change in his attitude

March 2015

4th-Yunan turns 25

Amon and Zagan start speaking again

April 2015

Vinea and Baal announce their engagement

Phenex and Astaroth visit Scheherazade in Italy

May 2015

Judal turns 19

June 2015

Solomon gets news that a blue haired girl is held in Argentina and is on the black market. Solomon sends nearby contacts to get her but they don't arrive on time. He and Sheba go to hunt down the lead in person.


	8. Chapter 8-Bitter

Chapter 8: Bitter

It was Aladdin's 16th Birthday. Judal found himself hating this day more and more every year. Each time it came around signified another year he hadn't seen her smile. He smirked. So much for birthday wishes. If they were worth all the shit he had to go through to get to them Aladdin would be back by now. But no, she was still missing, with only one sighting in almost twelve years, and he was here, sitting in his room, listening to music blaring through his headphones. He was alone and she was probably alone too. The thought of Aladdin alone made his blood boil, she needed to be around people.

She wasn't here, so he would do all the things she would have done had she been able to. He listened to her favorite songs. He ate her favorite cake. He blew out the sixteen candles he lit for her. He went out and had lunch with Kouha. He read a picture book she had loved. Finally he took the gift he bought and wrapped and walked over to Solomon and Sheba's house. He opened the door with his key and made the familiar trip up to Aladdin's room. Solomon and Sheba were both still chasing after the lead they got in Argentina. He was pretty sure they had followed it to Costa Rica, at least that's where they were the last time he spoke to one of the. It was a ritual. Her parents no longer questioned him when he showed up on her birthday; just let him do what he wanted. Eventually they just gave him a key to their house for the times when they weren't around. He walked into her room and placed the present on her bed, next to the other eleven presents he had brought, one each year for every year she was missing.

"Happy Birthday Aladdin" he murmured in every language he knew before he turned around and walked out. Five different Happy Birthday wishes this year, Kouha was teaching him Chinese and it was the first phrase he had learned.

He really didn't want to do anything today. He was almost to his house when he felt something. A change in the rukh. A light that had long since been gone returning. He reached out for it, finding it hidden in the warehouse district. It was a dark rukh giving him the message. One of the few perks of being loved by both dark and light rukh, he could communicate with them both. This dark rukh seemed unhappy about the light the girl gave off, but he didn't care. It was her. He found Aladdin.

It took a moment to register that he needed to **move** before he lost her. He needed to find her **now**. He grabbed the wand from his pocket and raced through the sky. He could have done this without the wand, but he wanted to move as quickly as possible and the wand amplified his abilities. He was in the warehouse district within minutes. He was losing her though. The black rukh that had been his connection to her was gone now. She couldn't be far though. There weren't many black rukh here, he found the area with the most. They surrounded three different buildings. There still weren't many here, but it was his best bet. He couldn't feel her anymore, but he knew she was here. It was instinctual. Something was drawing them together. He ran through the first building. He opened all the doors and searched every crook and cranny. Nothing. He started in on the next one. More nothing. What the hell? She should have been here.

There was no way in hell he was going to give up that easily. He imagined Sheba's reaction to the news that he had been so close; he could see her crying in his mind, could see Solomon moving to console her a stifle his own disappointment, he could hear Scheherazade and Yunan reacting to the news. The images filled his brain, torturing him. Judal just shut them out. He needed to think.

What would Kouen do? Figure out why the hell I can't feel her.

On that train of thought, he had always assumed it was because another person was using some kind of magic blocking spell that stopped the rukh from processing that she was there, but it didn't really feel like that. If that was the case Phenex and the others technically shouldn't have been able to feel whether or not she was alive. So what was it? He could feel the frustration the rukh felt. They wanted to be near her too. So why weren't they? Wait, the rukh weren't near her? Judal smirked. He had heard Yunan and Sche talking about something similar once. Their assumption was that the rukh couldn't feel her though, that they couldn't actually touch her. It wasn't that though, wherever Aladdin was, the rukh could feel her but they couldn't reach her. She was in a place without any white rukh at all. But they would be waiting for her nearby, struggling to get to her.

Judal called upon the rukh, sensing everywhere they were. He walked towards where the biggest congregation of white rukh was. He moved toward that massive blob of rukh, entering a warehouse and walking down several isles of cardboard boxes filled with who-knew-what. He didn't care, continuing to move towards the cloud of rukh. He reached it and looked around, running his hands over the wall and floor, looking for some kind of opening. He found that one of the shelves was leaning a bit off balance. He pushed it aside and ran his hand over the floor, finding a small crack. He dug his nails in and pried the trap door open. He asked the rukh to light the opening down below, and for the sake a caution used his ice magic to freeze the door open. He lowered himself into the opening beneath the floor and followed a hallway about thirty feet before it ended in a door. It was locked, but that wasn't really a problem. He took water from the air and pushed it into the keyhole, freezing it in shape then turning the makeshift key. The lock popped open. He pulled his gun out of the waistband of his pants before he swung the door open wide, freezing it open as well. Normally he wouldn't bother going back and forth between gun and magic, but in a small underground space like this where the rukh had difficulties simply lighting up a room he didn't want to take any chances. He was glad he had been practicing alchemic magic earlier in the day, even if he didn't particularly like using guns. He would have been almost completely defenseless down here otherwise.

He beckoned the rukh to light the room and they did, practically dancing around in happiness. Aladdin was here. He finished checking the room, years of training with Kouen kicking in, before he rushed over to her and started removing the needles attached to her left arm. He used the same method as before to unlock the chains around her wrists and feet. Very carefully he lifted her up bridal style and walked out of the cell. She was so thin he was afraid he would break her. He switched magic and teleported them back to Solomon and Sheba's house instead of flying them back.

He set her down on her bed and sat down in a chair beside her. He needed to make some phone calls. First though, he needed to check her for any injuries or malnourishment. His magic revealed minor injuries, bruises and scratches, and a shrunken stomach. It could have been worse.

He slipped his phone out of his pocket and dialed. The other picked up on the third ring.

"Judal?"

"Hey Old Man. I have news."

On the other side. "Solomon, do you feel that? It can't just be me."

"Sheba, call Dant-"

"I found her old man. Hurry up and come home."

The other side of the line was silent for a full minute. "Did you hear me? Aladdin is sleeping off whatever drugs they gave her in your house right now. Get off your lazy asses and drag yourselves onto a plane."

"Is she…"

"Come and see her. I'm not answering any of your damn questions right now. I hate the stupid phone. Get over here and see her. I'm gonna start healing her bruises. You take care of calling everyone else, I have work to do. Make sure they don't all come over at one time. I'm sure some of them will feel her around here even without you telling them though. See ya, old man."

End of Part 1-What Happened to Aladdin?


	9. Chapter 9-Memories

Part II-Return from the Darkness

Chapter 9: Memories

He started with the smaller scratches. Healing them wouldn't bother her sleep, and if he eased into the more painful healing she should get used to it and not wake up. He was thorough. He healed everything individually so she would feel the least amount of discomfort. It was a pain in the ass though; she had scratches on almost every part of her body. It was annoying, but Judal was willing to do anything for her. Only for her though, if it had been anyone else he wouldn't have given a shit. It took an hour to finish all the little cuts and move on to bruises. Bruises took longer to heal. This whole thing was a pain in the ass, and he wasn't some great healer. Scheherazade and Phenex both knew more than him, but one was in Italy and the other was working. He could have just waited for Phenex to get here, but he didn't feel like letting other people use magic on Aladdin. A Magi should heal another Magi. By the time he finished healing her, Sheba and Solomon had gotten on their plane and taken off. He wasn't surprised they were racing home. Leraje was almost home, he could feel the rukh around her moving his direction. Zagan was still off on business doing who-knows-what five hours away. The rest of the family was still out doing things. He could sense them all. Amon was leaving the office, Paimon was at her desk, Astaroth and Focalor were both at the gym, Phenex was at the hospital, and Dantalion was out shopping. Ugo was heading to the office. None of them seem to have noticed. Judal isn't surprised, they have to actually try to communicate with the rukh, the rukh don't just speak with them freely.

It was the other two he was waiting for though, Yunan and Scheherazade. He waited for them to notice Aladdin. They had left him alone to deal with her loss, shut him out. He had found her though; everything was worth it. She would be his; he could finally protect her like he promised. He wouldn't fail this time. He would do whatever it took. He needed to find out who took her and eliminate them first; he had the feeling they would try again if he wasn't careful. He wouldn't let the girl out of his sight if that's what it took.

He messaged Leraje. She needed to make Aladdin food. He sure as hell couldn't cook, and Aladdin obviously hadn't been eating much. She had enough nutrients though, so one of the tubes hooked up to her must have been a feeding tube or something. Judal was pretty sure Aladdin had gotten most of everything she needed from those tubes, probably a little solid food just to keep her body from completely giving out. Phenex would know more about it then he did, she was the actual doctor. Chicken noodle soup, rice instead of noodles. The rice would be easier for Aladdin to eat, and if she couldn't swallow solid food the rice would add more calories to the broth then noodles would. She definitely could use the calories; if Judal didn't know any better he'd say the girl was anorexic.

She should wake up soon. She hadn't had much of the drugs left in her system from what he could tell. He had made it right before a new dose was pumped into her. He used a syringe and took some of her blood. Phenex needed to look at it and figure out what the hell they had used to keep her knocked out. If he cared about any of the clan secrecy rules, he would have driven the stupid thing over to her. He didn't care though, so he sent it through a magic circle to her desk with a note. He could see her sending the thing away within seconds with his clairvoyance magic. Good, she actually paid attention to his note. At least someone was doing as he asked for once.

He felt it then, Yunan was noticing. He wasn't sure though, he didn't want to get his hopes up. Yunan was getting the rukh to spy on the sleeping girl for him. Judal could feel Yunan's shock from here. Scheherazade was noticing Aladdin only seconds later. He could feel the woman's clairvoyance magic sweep over the room. "Hey Sche, long time no talk. Glad to see you finally noticed."

"How long has she been out. I only just felt her."

"Almost three hours. I found her in the warehouse district. Yunan already knows, he noticed about a minute ago."

"I'm coming home. I should be there in a day."

"So slow, did you forget how to fly? Oh, you were the one who didn't like to leave the ground. Never mind, I'll get someone to pick you up at the airport, maybe."

Her spell dissolved. He was alone again. Yunan was calling though. The idiot finally used his damn phone. "I see your phone isn't broken after all."

"Am I crazy or is she really next to you?"

"Both actually. You fell off the deep end a while ago, but she is in her bed sleeping off whatever crap they were feeding her. I'll see you soon. I assume you still remember how to fly? And where we live?"

"Judal, this is no time for the snide comments."

"Oh no? Then when is? I'm having a rare good day; don't ruin it for me. I'll se you later cousin."

Interesting that they had bothered to talk to him. Normally they would just consult each other, think about talking to him, then just assume he was fine alone. Screw them. Yunan was on the other side of the country, it would take him a few hours to get here. He was a slow flier. He would probably get here at the same time Solomon and Sheba did. Great, he had to deal with all of them at one time. Wonderful.

Leraje was home, he could here her car. Aladdin was stirring. He moved back to his seat and waited. She got up very slowly and opened her eyes. Those gorgeous blue eyes widened in shock. She took in the room, the sheets, the light, and finally settled her eyes on Judal. Something was wrong though, she looked confused. It took a minute before he saw recognition in her eyes. 'This could potentially be a problem.'

"Judal?"

"That's my name."

"This has to be a dream. I don't want it to end yet."

"You are awake Chibi."

"I can't be. I always wake up in the dark all alone. It won't be any different this time. I'm glad I got to see your face this time though, normally I only see your eyes."

'My eyes?' "Chibi, stop talking nonsense. You are home. You don't have to go back to the dark ever again. I'll definitely protect you this time…Wait, don't start crying!"

"I want this to be real so bad though! I don't want to be alone any more."

"It's real Chibi. You can feel my hand right?" He held her hand in his and squeezed.

"Yes, but-"

"Focus on that. I'm right here and I won't leave you. I'll stay with you until you are so sick of me you will be begging for someone to take me away."

"I don't think that will ever happen."

"We used to get into fights all the time. You never wanted to be around me after we argued."

"I don't remember fighting with you. I don't really remember anything except the dark rooms that they kept me in and my dreams. You were always in my dreams. I don't know why, but you were always there. Sometimes there were others too, but never any faces. I haven't seen any faces in a long time."

"Chibi, do you remember anything at all? Your parents? Sche and Yunan?"

"I don't know who you are talking about. Maybe if you described them to me."

"Your dad is a pain in the ass. And he works all the time. He's really smart though, and he is super powerful for an ordinary magician. He gives off this reliable feeling. And he isn't one to bullshit people, he is pretty honest and upfront with people. Your mom is really nice, but if you piss her off she can be scary. She-"

"Maybe physical description first?"

"Long, wavy golden hair. She is short and she smiles a lot, or she used to at least. Bright blue eyes, not as pretty as yours though. She had little braids in her hair."

"I think I know who that is. She is one of the ones I saw the most often."

"So you remember Scheherazade. That's good. Yunan has this really white-blonde hair that is always in a braid over one shoulder. He wears green a lot. Looks like a plant in my opinion."

"Those two always showed up together. I never saw them separate, and you were always with them. Normally it was just the braids, I couldn't see anything else clearly. Just bits and pieces."

"Your mom has long pink hair. It's really straight. And your dad has dark blue hair, a little darker then yours, always in a braid. I have literally never seen his hair done in any way besides a braid, now that I think about it."

"I, I'm not sure about them. I can't really remember by dreams super clearly, just the ones that repeated a lot."

Judal's phone started ringing. Leraje was done cooking. "Aladdin, let's go get you some food. You need to eat something."

"Um, okay. I don't know if I can walk to far though."

"Why? Oh, you probably haven't been allowed to move around too much, huh?"

"No, the rooms were always really small, or the chains were too short to move around. How old am I?"

"Today is actually your 16th birthday. You were taken about twelve years ago."

"I don't really remember."

"It's probably just because of the shock. Your memories should come back eventually. I hope. Phenex will know more about it. We can talk to her when she is done with work."

"Who is Phenex?"

"Scheherazade's mom. We are all distantly related cousins and stuff, but no one really pays attention anymore. I think she is your moms second cousin or something. I don't really know. I never paid attention. She is my aunt, dad's step sister. Anyway, come on, my mom made you soup. It's just next door."

She didn't remember Leraje either, or Agares. Vinea stopped by and checked up on her but there was no recognition in Aladdin's eyes of her or Baal. Phenex examined her condition. She was fine. She needs to eat solid foods and rest naturally. Phenex wasn't surprised with the amnesia at all, claiming it was a common side effect of the drugs found in Aladdin's blood.

"As the drugs leave Aladdin's system and she spends more time in once-familiar surroundings with us she should start to remember. She buried the memories deep inside her mind so she wouldn't lose them to the drugs. They should come back over time. Until then, let's try not to overwhelm her. That could have a negative effect on her health. We may be able to unblock her memories, but most of them should come back with time."

* * *

Hello!

Aladdin is back!

If anyone wants a copy of the family tree I made for this story message me and I will get it to you. I get confused sometimes and I'm the one who made the story so if anyone is confused let me know and I will try to get things cleared up.

I really like this version of the story more then the one I had written previously. If anyone hasn't read all of the newly re-written chapters I would suggest you do that because there were changes. I'm super excited to keep writing this story, I hope you are liking it so far. There should be some more drama and the like coming up, as well as some romance and conflicts, so stay tuned.

Request and review please!

Until Next Time!

-Kizuna


	10. Chapter 10-The Four Magi

Chapter 10:

"Solomon and Sheba just landed. Yunan is meeting them at the airport."

"Ugo, some help me fix Aladdin's hair. Actually no, I'm calling Kouha, he will be much better at this then you."

"Judal do I have to cut my hair?"

"Chibi, it looks like someone literally just chopped off your braid one day. It is completely uneven and all the ends are split. Your hair won't be nice if you just leave it like it is. If you fix it up now it will get better faster."

"Fine. But you can't cut it too short."

"First, I'm not cutting it. Second, duh. Your hair is pretty and you should show it off. You just need to take some time to care for it. It has obviously been neglected."

"Well it's not like I could do anything about it!"

"I didn't say you could! Calm down Chibi I'm not accusing you of anything."

Judal continued his brushing. He poured oil onto his hands and ran his fingers through her hair. Her hair smelled like peaches now. He continued his hair care routine of brushing and conditioning. Kouha replied to his text message. _Are you finally going to let me play with your hair? I'll be over as soon as I'm done helping Kougyoku with her boy problems._ 'Since when does the old hag have boy problems?'

Ugo kept coming and going from the room getting Aladdin anything she could possibly want. Judal could here the front door opening and shutting. 'Here we go.'

"Aladdin! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Sheba, stop. Remember what Phenex told us. She has amnesia."

"Judal are they…?"

"That's them. They really like to dote on you. Just let Sheba pamper you, it's easier to give her what she wants then it is to try to fight her off."

"She's my mom?"

"That's what I just said Chibi."

"I don't really look like her all that much do I?"

"Not with the main physical characteristics, you look more like the old man. But you look like your mom too, its just a more subtle resemblance. It takes a little more time comparing you two to see the similarities. You have a short fuse just like she does."

"I don't have a short fuse."

"You used to."

"Judal what's going on?"

"What the hell are you talking about old man? Where the hell is Yunan."

"Yunan is checking up on Scheherazade. Does she remember you?"

"I don't remember him, I just know him. I don't really remember anything from before those dark rooms. I recognize his eyes. His eyes were in a lot of my dreams."

"Aladdin can you tell us anything about the person who-"

"Old man, don't you think she should have a few days of peace before you start asking those questions?" It was a weighted question. He met Solomon's questioning eyes with a glare. Judal was not going to have him making her uncomfortable when he finally got her comfortable enough to talk to more people then just him without freaking out and stuttering and panicking.

"I think it is important to get as many details as possible."

"I think you should stop pushing and just enjoy that you have your daughter back. I'm going to go talk to Yunan." He walked up close to Solomon as he made his way out the door. "Don't you dare make her uncomfortable after all the work I just did to get her talking like a normal person. I don't care if you are her parents or not. Talk about food, clothes, shoes, your business, whatever just don't make her unhappy." He left the room after giving Aladdin a smile. Sheba and Solomon exchanged a look 'did Judal really just smile?'

"Put the phone on speaker so I can talk to her too."

"Judal?!"

"Just do it Yunan. Unlike you two, I'm going to share information with others."

"Judal, you were too young to underst-"

"I wasn't, and it doesn't matter anymore. I found her and I brought her back. I don't give a shit if you two wanted to leave me out or whatever. Just listen to me so she doesn't have to deal with us going in circles."

"What do you want Judal? I don't have much time to be on the phone."

"Nice to talk to you too Sche. Screw you both. When are you getting here priestess?"

"A few more hours. How is she?"

"Confused. She has amnesia. Can we get to the important stuff please? I need to know what you plan to do from now on."

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because I want to know if I can investigate her kidnapping alone or if I'm going to have to protect her and figure out who the hell took her. I'm not leaving her with anyone weaker then one of you."

"Solomon can protect his daughter on his own. I don't think our plans matter to your-"

"I'm not taking any chances with her. I spent twelve years working my ass off so I could find her, I have no intention to do this again. Sche are you going to leave again or are you staying. She needs stability to recover from this. If you aren't going to be a constant in her life like before then visit for a few hours then run back to Rome. Same with you Yunan, she doesn't need fickle people in her life."

"Judal, you are out of line."

"I don't really think I am. I warned you. Sche, when you get here I want you to show me how to do that protection spell."

"I can cast it."

"I don't doubt that, but I need to be able to continue it. What happens when you leave? That spell won't last forever. We can talk about this again when you get here. Yunan, you better not bring that idiot around again. She doesn't need to compete with another light."

"What are you talking about?"

"She doesn't need to compete with the replacement you made. Besides, that man's ruhk will pressure hers. The two will try to outshine each other without even realizing. Focus on her or leave." Judal walked back in the house and sat next to a nervous Aladdin once again.

"It's funny, Sche. He acts like we are complete idiots."

"He isn't really wrong Yu. We left him all alone to face this problem. We just ran away. He has every right to be suspicious of us. We didn't help him like we should have. He was too young to be left all alone like that."

"I know. Just hurry up and get here. I have no idea what I'm going to do after this. I'm not sure I can stay here again."

"I don't know either. I'll see you soon Yu."

Yunan walked slowly to Aladdin's room and sat on the floor near her bed. She could see him but he wasn't uncomfortably close. He didn't make her nervous like her parents did.

"Why are you so familiar?"

"What do you mean Aladdin?"

"I know you for some reason. Why do I remember you more then my parents?"

"I'm a Magi just like you. The rukh keep us connected, just like how you remember Judal."

"But I remember Judal more then you."

"Chibi you should rest. We aren't sure why you are remembering things the way you are. Don't worry about it for right now and just relax. Stressing out won't help you remember anything."

"Don't leave again."

"Like I said earlier Chibi, I'm not leaving your side until you are sick of me."

"Then what were you doing earlier?"

"Do you want me to physically stay by your side for the rest of your life? Because if you do fine but I remember you being a little conservative when it came to bathing together when we were kids."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Just sleep Chibi. If I'm not right beside you I will be within shouting distance…If you aren't asleep in three minutes I'm going to use magic on you."

'Magic?' She didn't argue though. She didn't want Judal to get mad. She moved over so she could rest her head on his lap and closed his eyes. Solomon didn't look that happy that Aladdin was closer to Judal then anyone else at the moment but he let it go. If he could make her comfortable after the ordeal she went through then he really didn't have room to complain.

Yunan leaned back and rested against the wall. Sheba kissed Aladdin's forehead then left the room to cook something in the kitchen. Solomon watched the room for a moment before leaving to find Ugo. They needed to take care of a few legal things and deal with the police. Kouha showed up after an hour and nearly lost it.

"You found her?"

"I did. You bring your hair stuff?"

"I don't really think that's important right now."

"I think that she needs to start feeling like a normal person again. That means she needs to not feel like she did while captured. So, you are going to cut her hair and help me get her decent clothes and makeup. Her mother stopped getting her clothes a year ago, and I don't think any of it will fit anyway."

"Finally something I'm good at. Giving advice to Kougyoku really threw me off. It's weird to help her seduce a boy."

"Since when does the old hag have boy problems?"

"That's what I was wondering when she asked me for help this morning."

"So what am I doing with her hair? And why does she smell like peaches?"

"Just shaping it and whatever. It's all uneven from whoever chopped it off. I coated her hair in my hair oil because it obviously hasn't been taken care of well in a while. It's all dry and split ends."

"I can fix that. I would suggest we wait a little while before we take her out shopping though. She needs to put on a little weight. I'm guessing that she wasn't fed much solid food."

"I found her on an IV and a bunch of other shit. Damn, my leg is going numb."

"Poor Judal. So tell me about her while we wait for her to wake up."

…

"I'm Kouha. It's nice to see you again Aladdin. It's been a really long time since we last saw each other. I missed you a lot."

"We were friends before?"

"Yes! And we will be friends again if you want. Don't worry about remembering what happened before, we can just make new memories. If you sit up I can fix your hair now."

"Um, okay. Do I need to sit somewhere else?"

"If you wouldn't mind moving to the bathroom it would be easier to clean up afterwards."

Aladdin sat in a chair in her bathroom and waited with her eyes closed while Kouha ran his hands through her hair and started cutting. She didn't want to watch her hair get any shorter in the mirror, it was already too short.

"I'm all done Aladdin. What do you think?"

"It doesn't look any shorter then before. How did you do that?"

"I am an expert. No need to thank me. I cut off all the dead ends and added another conditioning oil so it should help to get your hair in tip-top shape quickly." He was greeted with Aladdin's smile. He was about to say something when there was a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" Not a voice Kouha knew, but Judal seemed to recognize it. The door opened to reveal a short golden haired girl. "Hello Judal."

"Scheherazade. You got here sooner then I expected."

"The jet caught an advantageous tail wind."

"I'm sure. That's why you look so tired."

"Judal!"

"He's a descendent of the clan Sche, calm down."

"So you are a Magi too, huh. You give off a very different aura then Judal does. Interesting. Aladdin's different too. Where's the fourth one?"

"He's around doing who knows what."

"I know you too. I-I"

"I'm Scheherazade. Phenex and Astaroth are my parents. Yunan, Judal, and I are cousins. You are slightly more removed from relation with us. We used to read together quite often."

"You like…history?"

"Yes, and studying cultures. You used to listen to me talk about them all the time."

"Aladdin I'm going to go over to my house and check on my mom. I'll be back in a few minutes. Stay with these two."

"Um, okay." Kouha could see the change in Aladdin's demeanor.

"Don't worry Aladdin. The three of us can play a game while we wait for Judal to come back. He should shower too; he'll start to stink if he doesn't. Let's give him some time to take care of himself. We can have fun together. Maybe we can get that other Magi to come play with us too. Let's go." He took her hand and pulled her out, throwing Judal a look over his shoulder. 'You are sooooo welcome. You owe me big. This short girl freaks me out.' Judal replied with a smirk and made his way home.

* * *

Hello!

So, it's been a really long time since I last updated this story. Sorry about that, I got a little distracted with the other stories and with other stuff. I will try to be more consistent with my posting but I'm not making any promises. I haven't gotten used to my new schedule and stuff yet. So bare with me until I can figure things out.

Please Review!

Until Next Time!

-Kizuna


	11. Chapter 11-Family Reunion

"Aladdin can I braid your hair?"

"Um, sure. I guess. Can you do it like Judal's?"

"I think he uses magic to do that. I'm not a magician or anything so that isn't really an option for me. Why don't I try something different?"

"Well since you did such a great job cutting my hair I think that would be okay too."

"Awww you are too cute!"

Kouha moved to sit behind Aladdin and started running his hands through her hair again. Scheherazade sat a few feet away watching Aladdin carefully.

"Even with everything that has happened you seem so much like the girl I used to know."

"What do you mean Sche?"

"Just that. Even without your memories some parts of you are still the same as always. You still call me Sche even though you can't remember why you gave me that nickname years ago. The way you move, the way you walk, the way you sit, it's all the same as before. Have you argued with Judal yet?"

"Why would I argue with Judal?"

"The two of you used to argue all the time. Well, I guess it doesn't matter. You may or may not get your memories back so we should focus on the 'you' of now rather than the 'you' of the past. I shouldn't dwell on how things used to be. I'm sorry to bring it up."

"It's okay. You didn't mean anything by it."

 _She always has been really forgiving, even of those stupid kids Judal and I had to take care of. I guess blondie is right in saying some things never change. Aladdin is still Aladdin._ "Look in the mirror. I like the braids in your fringe."

"Kouha I think the three braids are more your style. I'm more of a one braid kind of person."

Kouha laughed. "I had a feeling you would say that. You said the same thing the last time I tried to braid your hair like this."

"Aladdin how much do you remember about the Magi Clan?"

"I'm not sure. I know we have magic. I know some of us can use more then others. Isn't that right? There's more but I don't know how to say it. It's like an instinct."

Scheherazade smiled. "If you will excuse me I would like to go visit with my parents for a bit. I'm sure you will be fine with Kouha here for a little while. I'll come back to talk with you more later."

~Judal~

"Would you idiots stop crying? I can't deal with it anymore."

"Give them some credit Judal. Sheba just got her daughter back and Vinea has been extremely lonely since Aladdin disappeared."

"Shut up gramps. I don't need a lecture about being polite."

"Your father is rubbing off on you too much."

"This is the time to take advantange of a woman's emotional weakness to get all cuddly." Dantalion smacks him on the back of the head and Judal laughs.

"Married men shouldn't be flirting, huh Focalor?"

"Mom dad stop messing around."

"Yunan you shouldn't boss your parents around."

"Sche? I thought you were with Aladdin."

"Astaroth am I dreaming or is our daughter really here?"

"I'm sure that you are awake and last you checked you have perfect eyesight so yeah, our daughter decided to come back from Italy."

"Why are all our parents so obsessed with our whereabouts all the time? It's our duty to go around and calm conflicts."

"I'd have to agree with you for once Yunan."

"If all three of you are here who is with Aladdin?"

"Calm down old man. Kouha won't let anything happen to her. If everyone would shut up and tone down the water works I could have told you that she seems to recognize all of the Magi to some extent, at least more then she recognized you."

"You left my daughter with some boy I don't know?"

Judal smirked. "You know what I've been doing but you feel comfortable leaving her with me. I know you've been spying on me, and I assume you don't approve of all the means I've used to gain power."

"Be that as it may you would never hurt Aladdin."

"Kouha is the one who dealt with the majority of the bullies Aladdin had to deal with when school started. As much as people feared me they respected him."

"That doesn't say anything of how he is now. Tell me, would you give him a djinn?"

"I would, if I had a reason to. I'm not really interested in making more djinns though. Not right now anyway. I'll be going back to Aladdin now. You all have fun with the family reunion."

* * *

Hello!

I hope you liked the chapter. I know I haven't updated this story for a long ass time so I'm sorry about that. I hope to get this updated more often from here on.

If you haven't already I would really appreciate it if you would go vote in the poll I put up.

As always feel free to make requests.

Until Next Time!

-Kizuna


	12. Chapter 12-Hunting for the Truth

Judal watched as Scheherazade put up a seven-layered barrier, then a detection barrier, and then three other barriers he didn't recognize at all. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had been training in the past few years.

Judal kept out of sight but brushed his rukh against Aladdin's to keep her calm. She hasn't shown any signs of her previous magic capabilities but at least she still had a strong connection to the rukh. Judal moved his attention to Yunan, sitting in a corner with his eyes closed appearing to be asleep to the untrained eye but really listening for any little mutterings. From the look on his face he wasn't hearing anything helpful. Well, it wasn't like Judal had expected anything from such a low-level detection technique. If the kidnaper was able to conceal Aladdin's presence so well they wouldn't be foolish enough to speak without barriers to block out unwanted listeners. If that was even what Yunan was listening for. The man was still a mystery to Judal.

He looked back to Aladdin just in time to see her figure walking out the front door. He rolled his eyes when he saw that Scheherazade hadn't even bothered to try and follow her.

"Judal, there is no need for you to glare at me. I know you are out there. I put barriers in place so she could run around the clan's property without worry."

"I feel so much better." Scheherazade just let the sarcastic comment go. If Judal wasn't yelling at her and Yunan she counted it as a victory.

Judal moved from his spot in the tree and floated after Aladdin. He landed and walked into her house right behind her.

"Aladdin? What are you doing in here? I thought you were spending time with Scheherazade and Yunan." Sheba tried to mask the surprise in her voice, but she couldn't hide it when Aladdin had been so against speaking with anyone without another Magi (mostly Judal) present.

"I-I thought I should try to spend some time with you. Judal said it's important to spend time with family other then him."

"He's right, but you shouldn't do anything that makes you uncomfortable." Solomon swept his eyes over her, finally getting to see his daughter standing on her own instead of clinging to Judal's side.

"I think it would help me get my memories back if I spent time doing things that make me a little nervous. Judal said no one here would hurt me so I think it's okay."

Sheba smiled at her. "Do you want to play monopoly? You used to love it."

Aladdin returned with a hesitant smile. "Sure."

"What about you Judal?"

Damn Solomon needed to accept Judal's favor and spend time with his daughter alone. He was trying to give them some family time alone, not that the two parents seemed to be getting the hint. "Old man, I don't play kid ga-"

"Will you play?"

Judal looked at Aladdin's hopeful expression for a moment before sighing. "Scoot over Chibi." He should have stayed outside, but he had wanted to see the adventurous spirit of Aladdin's make its appearance. He couldn't say it was exactly the same bold nature she had before but it was better then her using him as a shield from the eyes of others.

They sat playing the game for several hours. When Solomon noticed Aladdin rubbing her eyes and yawning he excused himself from the game to go to bed, Sheba following soon after. Solomon had always been one to lead by example rather then tell people what to do if he could. It tended to affect everything he did, even everyday gestures.

Aladdin settled her tired gaze on Judal. "Will you stay with me for a little while?"

Judal picked her up and carried her to her room without replying, hoping she would decide to sleep alone for once. She wrapped herself in a nest of blankets and Judal laid down next to her trailing his hands through her hair.

"Judal?"

"Hmm"

"I remembered something from that room. Actually, I think it was the room before the room you found me in."

Judal opened his eyes and peered at her. "What happened?"

"They did something really weird to me. They used a bunch of extra wires and tubes, way more then normal. It felt really cold. I couldn't stop shivering and I felt numb in some places. It was fine for a while, but they kept saying different names of drugs and medicines they were putting in my body. There was a bunch of numbers too. They kept trying so many different things. After they found a certain combination my body felt like ice. I couldn't move at all, they didn't even bother tying me up like normal. I was stuck like that for a really long time; it felt like it would never end. Then they moved me to that other room."

 _They experimented on her for what? What were they after?_

"Don't worry about it for now Chibi. Just go to sleep."

"Will you stay?"

"You should learn to sleep on your own."

"I don't want to."

"Such a demanding little Chibi." He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. Solomon would probably kill him when he found them in the morning but whatever. It wasn't like Solomon was too stupid to know Aladdin was overly attached to Judal at the moment.

* * *

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry that it's been sooooooo long since the last update. School has been a bit crazy and a few things came up...but I do believe that I have figured things out for the moment (may take about one more week to finish catching up and organizing myself) so things should become more regular very soon.

I would really appreciate it if everyone would take a moment to go vote in the poll I put up. It would really help me figure out which stories I need to really focus on and develop as quickly as possible. Don't worry, it doesn't mean the other stories won't get updated, just that I prioritize the stories people want the most. :D

Anyway...I don't know what else to say. Imma go.

Until Next Time!

-Kizuna


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